Immediately after the receipt of such statement, the council shall consider the same in open sessions, affording a reasonable opportunity to officers and citizens to be heard thereon, and the council shall, in one ordinance, on or before the fifteenth day of December following, adopt a financial program for the ensuing year, showing the estimated receipts from all sources, the liabilities of every kind, and the amount and character of expenditures to be made by such departments, officers, boards, commissions, trusts, committees, and other agencies during the ensuing year. In passing said ordinance the council shall be bound to accept the estimates of receipts and liabilities furnished to the mayor by the city controller, but shall have full discretion to determine the character and amount of expenditures to be made out of the estimated receipts of the city during the ensuing year.
53 P.S. § 12552